CCPD plans to sell K-9 narcotics dog Jordy after two incidents

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Jordy’s time as a K-9 narcotics dog with the Charles City Police Department has ended.

Jordy, an energetic Dutch shepherd who joined the CCPD in late September 2018, has served his last day on the force, according to Police Chief Hugh Anderson.

“At this time we thought it’s probably in the city’s best interest and the PD’s best interest to probably go a different route with a different K-9,” Anderson told the Charles City Council Wednesday night in a somber tone.

Anderson said Jordy had been involved in two incidents that prompted the Police Department to give up the animal.

Jordy was involved in one incident that took place at Officer Dario Gamino’s home in Floyd. Gamino is Jordy’s handler and trained with the dog.

That incident took place on June 25, 2019, and involved a third party who was treated for minor injuries and released the same day.

Asked by the Press whether the two incidents included the one in Floyd, Anderson would not elaborate. Anderson also would not say whether the incidents involved injuries or if there was litigation pending as a result of the incidents.

“It took a lot of deliberation to come to this conclusion, because obviously he was purchased with donations and everything else,” said Anderson. “It was a tough decision for us to come to — a very tough decision. It was the incidents that drove most of it.”

The effort to bring Jordy to Charles City started with a fundraising campaign that quickly grew to involve more than 100 community groups, businesses and individuals, donating thousands of dollars to help support Jordy’s purchase, training, equipment and ongoing care.

The total cost associated with the purchase of Jordy was more than $12,000 — almost $5,000 of that relating to outfitting a squad car so Jordy could ride along in the back seat while on patrol.

Jordy was purchased from Midwest K-9 in Des Moines where he received his training. Anderson said Jordy was a rescue dog, making it hard to know exactly how old he is, but Anderson thought back in 2018 when he joined the force that he was around 1½ to 2 years old.

“We had a good run with Jordy – a very short run. It was good,” said Anderson. “What he did, it’s just we don’t know if it’s because he was a shelter dog and a rescue dog. We don’t have all the back history on him if that’s the cause of his behavior.”

The City Council will vote on a resolution Monday that would sell Jordy to Tree Town Kennels for $1. That agreement states that Jordy would continue getting trained at that facility with the goal of him joining another police department.

“They’d also train him for the protection of the officer – the aggressive part,” said Anderson. “The trainer feels that he’ll hopefully fit in well with what he can train him to do.”

In return, the city could then purchase another trained K-9 narcotics dog for $5,000 from Tree Town Kennels.

“He’s going to buy him at a very nominal fee and then allow us to purchase another dog if we so choose for almost half price of what he sells his dogs for,” Anderson said.

The agreement gives the city a year to decide if it wants to purchase another K-9 narcotics dog from Tree Town Kennels.

“We want to keep Jordy as a working dog,” Anderson said, although with a different law enforcement department.

“We will go back and try to look at our program and get another narcotics dog in the future,” he said.

Jordy’s efforts on the job resulted in numerous seizures of illegal drugs like marijuana and methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, Anderson said.

“He did an excellent job in what he was trained to do with our narcotics detection,” said Anderson. “We were never disappointed in that. His K-9 handler did an excellent job in working with him.”

Anderson said he didn’t know if Gamino would help train and handle a new K-9 narcotics dog if the department gets one.

“We’re looking for a dog that can do the job well and that fits in with our community and our department well,” said Anderson.